SNE grind 65% done! bettinglife @ Pokerstars

     Hey guys, it's bettinglife here

   First of all, I'd like to thanks everybody that has been reading my posts. Today the 10k visitors mark was reached!!
        I can say in advance that the month was great. Massive action lead to massive results! And the reason why the month was great is based on Goals achievement and results!
                
                       1 ) I manage to achieve most of my goals:

1. 200+ hours  work
2. 150k vpp's
3. 20 hours work out
4. 20 hours studying ( Only did around 10)

                       2) Poker results were positive :

      September Results with 50% rakeback.

     I also have been crushing all kind of leaderboards during the month:

Congratulations on your performance in last week's Sit & Go Leader Boards:
Sep 10 A cash prize of USD 175.00 has been credited to your account
Sep 18 A cash prize of USD 225.00 has been credited to your account
Sep 25 A cash prize of USD 500.00 has been credited to your account.
Today A cash prize of USD 1,000.00 has been credited to your account.
Today  A cash prize of USD 500.00 has been credited to your account.
 
   Am i fulfilled or accomplished with mylatest success? 


   Not even close, I'm making mistakes all the time! Obviously if i compare myself with the semi-regulars I'm a superstar, but i like to compare to myself in the day/month/year before! Developing is crucial,there's only two ways to approach life, or you'll get better or you'll get worse, there's no such thing as being stable. Just like in previous months i'm gonna keep improving the only difference is that pressure is not present ias big and those leaks are a bit harder to find.

 I've been reading ''fooled by randomness'' and there was an example pretty funny of how people can be over rated, i think there could be no better time to think about this than now!

   Let's say a Wall street firm hires10k investors and the ones that by the end of the year lose money will be fired, and the other remain, same process in the 2nd year, 3rd, 4rd.. Let's also assume that they are bad investors ( negative long run ) and they lose 40% of the years.
   By the end :

  of the 1st year we'd have 4k ''sucesfull'' investors
  of the 2nd year we'd have (4k)40% = 1.6k investors
  of the 3rd year 640 investors
  of the 7th year 17 investors.

 These super ''sucesfull'' investors are actually bad and negative to the firm, but luck is always present in any form. The funny thing about this, is that they'll become super stars and they'll start to appear in magazines, to  write books, giving financial advice, managing peoples money. on the 8th year, there's only 6 guys left, and people will study their patterns to be as successful as them. they'll even write books about their youth saying it's influencing then in their professional life! When they finally run out of luck this poor 6 guys will be blamed that their change in habits was the reason for the unsuccessfull results.

   Even though it was a simple example it might help you to reflect in some areas of your everyday life.

    Back to poker...

Some new regulars in poker have been asking me what should be done to improve. It really depends what structure you're playing, each structure requires a different aim. For example if you're playing cash games you should be looking to improve mostly your postflop skills ( which is where the biggest edge comes from ) nothing new here, right?
   For tournaments which is where i'm good at i'll write for each structure what you should be working on and where!. Nothing really specific but certainly will help some new guys into the business.

180 s - Biggest edge in 2010-2011 came from the latest stage in the game, push/fold strategy. I was super super bad postflop and i made 45k in 2011 with good push/fold strategy. Hu not so relevant for Medium level player.

 45s - Bigger edge also comes from latest stage in the game, but if you're aiming to become a real pro at it you should study ICM calculations for the final table. Hu slightly relevant.

18s - It really depend which buy ins you're playing because 18s offers a big variety, but if you're playing up to 15$, you could easily beat the games by being good  push/fold. strong icm knowledge. and strong Hu game.
 
6 max 20+ deep - This is my structure currently, i will talk about what you should work on up to the 15$ level, because after that it's a bit more complex. 
Postflop : Strong factor
Push/fold: Ok
Hu: Strong factor
ICM: Strong factor.

6 max sattys: This structure in the low limits a strong push/fold strattegy with a even stronger ICM knowledge. easy game.

    The best way i know to improve your postflop is by working on reviewing a lot of Hand histories which is not that easy. But for push/fold and icm knowledge kind of players is prety easy you just need to work on a calculator. I can assure you'd beat any push/fold strategy such as 180s, 45s, 6max sattys, 6 max hypers with some work and dedication.

     I became good after working on icmizer which is a calculator made by my coach, if you're looking to improvement you've found the place. I'm not looking for business here, it's really powerful!

http://www.pokericmcalculator.com/icmizer/

   Anyway, i'm feeling that post is getting too long.

Back to the goal,
    SNE is currently in 65%

   Goals for October:

175k vpp's
220 hours work
20 hours work out gym
keep myself disciplined and motivated.


    Ciao raggazi!

            

''Success comes from good judgement. Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement! '' follow Bettinglife @ Pokerstars

    Hey guys,

           As usual in the first day of each month i check my poker results and this 1st September was no different the only difference was that i was losing (around 4k after all the bonuses..). Even though you might argue is not that much money specially after i run 15k$ Bellow Ev (250 buy ins ) it was pretty intense for me, and that made me took two days to relax and to improve myself as poker player. 
     
     My game, my mindset, my short term goals, i knew something had to change, i couldn't just stay there and hope things to get better, i needed to take Massive Action!  I decided to go back to my old schedule, (playing during the night), i lowered number of tables ( 12 ), and for the first days i lowered Average buy in ( 50$ ) and i also increased number of working hours/day ( 10 ).
         I found/fix some leaks ( big ones actually ), and now i feel that soon I'll become one of those big names that make us question if the game is profitable when they jump as the 6th player on the game. You can argue that I'm being too full of myself on this, but the truth is that i failed many times, and i tried to improve in every single of them. I often listen to players telling me how they played perfectly a hand or session, and in my opinion if they're not finding mistakes in their game it means their not improving, and if they're not improving they'll soon get outplayed by their opponents.

    ''Success comes from good judgement. Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement! '' tony Robbins


 Today...

    I was reading a very long post of Phil galfond's blog, and he was writing now (27) about when he was exactly my age (21) :

 '' I wish I would have stayed in school and played a little bit of poker on the side, but not so much that it almost consumed my life like it did.''

''Sure, I was still hanging out with friends, some of whom were students, but it wasn’t the same.  I had other focuses, responsibilities.  I had job offers from training sites, accountants to hire, bankroll decisions to make.  I grew up too quickly.''

 ''You can always go back to school and get a degree, yeah, but you can’t go back and be 21 again.''

   
   I could write the exact same words in this moment about my life. I only have 5 subjects to finish my economics graduation and I'll delay it, however i can't do the same with my youth. I might be nostalgic for the fact that two years ago i went in Erasmus. 
   
       Anyway, no more reflections! I'm taking the best decisions in my life given the information available, so be it! I'll embrace whatever life has for me..

Supernova Elite status: I'm currently with 540k vpp's ( 54% of the points that i need) , and I'm planning to  end up this month with 640k.


    September Overall Plan:
     150k vpp's
     200 + hours playing
     20 + hours studying
     20 hours of Exercise ( Gym and Krav maga ) 
     Keep myself motivated.

See you soon,

António Bettinglife

    

“Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.”

   Hey guys,

      I decided to write today after i got inspired by phil galfond's blog, i share some of his problems, and apparently like many other top players..


           I've been thinking much about life, how poker is related to it and how it affects it. I must admit as competitive player , is a big part of my life, same happens with any other high level athlete ( not saying I'm one, yet.. ) . Michael Phelps said recently, that he would only discover himself as a person now, because swimming always made a big part in his life that he didn't have the time to find himself as a human being..

     In the beginning on the year i was still a 10$ regular ( not saying it's something you shouldn't be proud off but if your Goal is SNE it's simply not enough). and turning myself into the player/person I'm today took a lot of efforts and discipline over the year, efforts like working 200 hours/month, avoiding going out with friends at weekends to play  the good games, change your schedule given the game sweetness ( playing until 8 am for ex ), tell my girlfriend/family you could only spend a limit time with her/them .. All this decisions, made me a more successful online poker player, but they also have an impact in your life such as health, relations, happiness. Is very hard to calculate such value, because life is too complex and with many variables while in poker is ''rather easy'' for ex.. Should i go out to a friend b-day on a Friday when games are sweet or should i take games with a  150$/ hour winrate. Is your friend bday party worth 1500$?. This type of questions are very sensible, because we're speaking about emotions and relations which in my opinion are greater than money. So it's not about the money? So it's about What?!


       So why am i doing this, is it for the money, for the challenge, for the thrill?

    I must admit it's a bit of each, if I'd get SNE now, i would reduce my hours of work to 100/ month probably, so it's not only about the money.Only 1 in each 15 000 players is SNE the idea of becoming part of such restricted VIP club is something that really pushes me and might be really intelectually fulfilling.

     During the course of the year i had feeling like, ok your suffering now but you're going to be happy when you're done with this challenge. Maybe this is somewhat true, but you have the power to change it virtually  NOW. Worked for me after listening to Anthony Robbins '' get the edge'' about how to approach life. And now i changed my schedule radically, I'm having a better nutrition, spending one day with family and friends/week, and work out much more often, and that makes me more happy.


 ''Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present''
Jim Rhon.



    What if i fail?



    I thought about it many times,I'm playing with some of the best sitngo players in the World and is not an easy task , but if you read my blog some months ago I'd be shooting for the moon, and even if I'd fail I'd be among the stars.. And here i am, trying to outplay the best sitngo players in the world. Well I'm trying, what about you, are you Trying? or Are you still in your comfortable average life?  Do something about it ( if you think it would make you a happier person )



    I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.
by Michael Jordon.

 
In 10 years
 I'll be saying. I did it, it was LEGEN... wait for it ..DARY! or I failed in a Legendary way.


Both of them sound better than... ''Ohhh i  didn't tried, but now is late even if i want i can't.. I have two kids and a wife as a full time job and i love it''


My current plan for August:


I'm done with ABC postflop, and i really feel that my postflop game is getting finally solid, now it's time to take my game to world level competition ( sounds good :P ). will go more in specific in this in the next post, i didn't check yet my August results i guess they were not great given the fact that the games were very competitive and i was coolered all the way on the bubble..
 
  See you guys ( soon )


   

Bettinglife August Recap

           Hey guy,


                  I decided to write today because there's some news going on...

       I settle for myself a 6k vpp pace /day for August, and so far things are going according to plan, today i even reached my own vpp record in a single day by making 8k!

    

    The blog as a new domain www.bettinglifepoker.com . There's a lot more news for the blog soon so stay alert!

 
      I've been playing basically only 60$ and 100$ but games have been really competitive so i don't know if i'm positive pre-rakeback, so i just need to wait that sample speak for itself.
     
        There are two options:

                   1 - I do well in regged games, and i keep playing 60$ - 100$ w/o massive selection.
                   2 - I'm not good enough so i need to play 30$ as basis and 60$ + 100$ with selection untill i'm good enough.

   
    No matter what will happen i'm pretty happy with results and pace so far nevertheless i want to keep pushing my own limits everytime i play..

'' A man who limits his interests, limits his life. '' by Vincent Price

   


    See you guys, 
                      bettinglife

July Recap, SNE loading..

   Hey guys!

    JULY

     Here i am as promised, i'll tell very quickly how my life was this month, i played 210 hours of poker and studied about 30 hours ish which makes a total of 240 hours marathon slightly 50% more than a usual worker.
   I've been also going to Krav maga classes, for those who are not aware in what it consists, you can watch the video below: Krav maga is a non competitive martial art, developed in Israel with no fighting rules, nowadays used by Israelian defense special forces is also known as self defence technique for civilians.
   I've been going very consistently because beside getting me prepared for possible situations in the future and it also helps to relax, it does! Imagine yourself fighting one hour and then + one hour of poker, i'm sure bad beats won't hurt as much =)

 KRAV MAGA VIDEO YouTube

   The goal this month was to finish the month with 100k vpp's playing 30$ - 60$ and some sweet 100$'s.

     
    The good news is that i also end up the month up pre-rakeback. And i'm 5th at the 30$ hypers leaderboard.

  
    The best news are that i still make a lot of mistakes so there's a LOT of space for improvement! :D


August

   Goal for August:

      150k vpp's.

      200+ hours of work

      20+ hours studying

     finish positive pre-rake

     Attend to all Krav maga classes.

     Spend time w/family + gf + friends if the free days!

    ps: sorry any speeling mistakes didn't have time to check

    See you soon!

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

    Hey guys,
       
       Thomas Jefferson is always a good start of a long post but i'm just going to make a quick recap of what happened the last weeks.. My approach to the games had some flaws and they were partially fixed since 1st June and good results came suddenly, maybe pure luck? 

    
    As i'm not a great believer in luck, i rely on the fact that my strattegy is changed so is working!


      Uranus Leadeboard Prize


        Last week i won the Uranus 2nd place tied with my friend quadchrazs, so money was split.


    ''Hello bettinglife,

Congratulations on your performance in last week's Sit & Go Leader Boards. A cash prize of USD 600.00 has been credited to your account. This credit can be viewed under the History section on the PokerStars Cashier.''

    This may look awsome, but i was in the 1st place initially and i thought it was over so it was one of those moments like in football when you score a goal and is ofside..

      
     Year results

       As for results, finally the tree is giving some fruits of the hard work, dedication and discipline required over the last months, i had my best month as a poker professional, and considering the fact that i live a very cheap life, this becomes intelectually fulfilling.

     Recap, last 6 months 10 - 30$ hyper games.
       

  


     Ps. As i said in the last post, '' nest post i'll be crushing'' :P

    See you
   

Bad luck leadeboard winner?

    Yo guys, a lot happened since i start with the 6 max hypers structure, i've been playing the 30$ stakes and games are really tough, a lot of regs and some of them are going for SNE.
 
      About SNE.. It's still mathematically possible to go for SNE but that would imply me moving up in stakes, something i don't know i'm ready for, specially after running 180 buy ins below Ev in the 30$ level.

     Here is my graph of all time hypers.

Green line - How i have been running

Red Line - It's called Ev adjusted, and it shows how i actually should been running.

Blue line - it's the adition of the Green line + 28% rakeback.

   So i'm basically i'm break even for the last 2 months even though i've been winning all Unlucky leadeboards! :)
   
   I have in my mind that some professionals and some books say that it's in this hard moments that good players separate from excelent players, considering i give all credit to the Red line i have to say that i really feel well with myself and the best is to come :)
  

     Next time i'll write i'll be crushing!

Pai Rico vs Pai Pobre

   Yo pessoal,

     Ontem estava a ler o resumo de um livro que já tinha lido, ''Pai Rico, Pai Pobre'' by Robert kiyosaki que fala da independência financeira. O autor teve dois pais ( o pai biológico e o pai de um amigo) em que caracteriza um como '' Pai Pobre'' e o outro como ''Pai Rico''.
    Ambos os pais ensinam o autor como obter sucesso mas ambos têm ideias divergentes sobre como abordar a vida.
   A caracterização das personagens pelo autor:

    ''Pai pobre'' tem um doutoramento e frequentou as melhores faculdades, é também comparado a milhões de pais que encorajam os filhos a terem sucesso na escola para obterem depois um bom emprego, e ideias como trabalhar muito e poupar.

   ''Pai rico'' não possui mais que o 8º ano de escolaridade e foi com este pai que o autor aprendeu a substituir o pensamento '' não posso comprar'' por  '' como posso comprar?'' para manter o cérebro sempre a funcionar.


Algumas lições de moral de valor:

 '' Trabalha para aprender e não por dinheiro.''

''Exercício físico desenvolve a saúde, exercício mental aumenta a riqueza, preguiça destrói ambos. 

'' Os pobres e a classe média trabalham por dinheiro, os ricos têm o dinheiro a trabalhar para eles.''

''O problema da corrida dos ratos é que mesmo que ganhes continuas a ser rato''

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

   Hey guys i'm going for a short post today, this is one of the sentences that motivated me when i decided to study and go for SNE this year, and here i am still fighting for it.

   ''A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided.''
   Tony Robbins

   The question is..

''How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to?''
   Tony Robbins

think about this.. and you'll find a way,  it's what i do everyday!
My GF is back to itally so i can devote myself to poker 100%.

   i'll share how to give a simple love proof, the meaning in the board is '' you are beutifull'' in italian

 

Running bad and feeling good :)

     Hey guys, for the last 15 days i had no winning day  (the sickest run ever) , sounds pretty sick, right? But even though it sounds strange I feel pretty confort about it, despite of being 5k$ from the top. I've been playing 6 max hypers and studying them after sessions, even for professionals downswings in a new structure are frightening due to a lot of uncertainty. So i just kept working on my game as usual and playing less tables to make sure i was beating the rake.

     In the graph below,
Green line represents my results
Red line represents the EV adjusted ( what my results would be if i was not unlucky )

In the next few weeks i'll spam the blog with new results because i feel that i'll be actually having a 15 days winning streak this time :) so follow me at Pokerstars.
 
     no time to check spelling mistakes, sorry :P


See you soon!

Erros vs Variancia

 

  Hey guy, today i feel like writing in portuguese so here it goes..

     Desde a minha decisão de estudar um formato com o objectivo de fazer SNE muito aconteceu, passei por 18 man, depois 6 max e agora estou a jogar os hyper turbos de 6 max, estudei bastante a estrutura nas ultimas semanas e fiz 40 horas de jogo este mês. Infelizmente até agora estou a perder mas encaro as perdas como gastos em formação porque se entretanto bater o formato as fichas voltam outra vez para o dono hehe. Até agora com apenas 1400 jogos feitos então não posso tirar conclusões mas sinto que os meus oponentes fazem mais erros do que eu então há uma possibilidade de estas perdas serem apenas variância.. 
 ''A única pessoa com quem deves competir é contigo mesmo, é a competição mais justa.'' Todd Ruthman

    O meu objectivo inicialmente era começar o desafio em 1 de Abril e manter um ritmo de trabalho constante com o pressuposto de evoluiria nem que aumentasse os stakes ao longo do ano, não faz muito sentido pois não? Então vou tirar de mim esta pressão de ter apenas 15 dias para começar o desafio e vou me focar em dar o meu melhor para evoluir todos os dias.

 Hypers: